January 2016 - Fabric Filter-Precipitator Insights 60

Total world sales of fabric filter systems will be $8.8 billion in 2016. Sixty-four percent of the sales will be in Asia. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company in N021 World Fabric Filter and Element Market.

Continent	2016
Total	8,831
Africa	183
America	1,958
Asia	5,490
Europe	1,210

China is playing a major role in the Asian market. It has been a fast growing and large market over the last decade. Now sales are starting to level off. The major air pollution control companies in China are devoting considerable time and effort to penetrate the markets in Indonesia, Vietnam and India.

Some of the international filter suppliers with manufacturing in China are also looking to the broader Asian market. Cement, steel and chemical companies are all major filter purchasers. The tightening regulations in Asian countries are assuring market growth.

Some of the Asian fabric filter market will be captured by process system suppliers or international filter companies who sell to the system suppliers. FLSmidth supplies complete cement plants in Asia. They also supply fabric filters and replacement bags. European based competitors are buying filter systems from European based filter companies who can provide service in Asia.

The biggest future variable is the application of fabric filters to coal-fired boilers. At present precipitators are still the choice for new Asian coal-fired power plant companies. However, the need for higher dust removal efficiency is causing some owners to remove the internals of their precipitators and replace them with bags.

One of the options to remove SO₂ is to combine dry scrubbing with fabric filters. This is less expensive than the electrostatic precipitator/wet FGD alternative. There are already more than 50,000 MW of these dry scrubbing/fabric filter units operating in China.

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Despite the movement away from coal in developed countries, the heavy investment in new coal-fired power generation by developing countries is creating an annual $170 billion market with some peaks of close to $200 billion over the next five years. India, Vietnam and Indonesia will be the leading purchasers. However, there will be some investment in the developed countries who are reducing the total CO₂ footprint from coal. The route they are taking is to build new highly efficient coal-fired power plants to replace the high CO₂ emitting existing power plants. Japan is a prime example. Dozens of new coal-fired power plants are underway in Japan.

China is slowing down its investment in new coal-fired power plants but will continue to be a leading purchaser. Coal-fired power is the key to the smog reduction program. The electric power provided by these power plants is used in commercial and residential buildings as a substitute for solid fuels burned on site which are presently creating much of the smog. The large coal-fired power plants built recently in China are more efficient than the average U.S. coal-fired power plant and have all the pollution control equipment.

Most of the new coal-fired boilers will be of the ultra supercritical design. This requires high temperatures and pressures. International suppliers of pumps, valves, piping and treatment chemicals benefit from the performance demands and the need to rely on experienced suppliers. These boiler systems will be furnished by suppliers from China, Japan and the U.S. as well as some of the Eastern European countries. Due to the new World Bank limits on funding coal-fired power plants, the international plant suppliers will be a more important funding source.

Highly efficient particulate control equipment will be utilized on all the new systems. Many will also have SO₂ and NO_x removal devices. The requirements for mercury reduction have spread beyond the U.S. borders. China also has set emission standards for mercury. Its Near Zero Emissions (NZE) policy is as stringent as any policy around the world.

Pulverized coal firing will be most common with circulating fluid bed combustors being used for some fuels where size reduction is challenging. Ball mills and other size reduction equipment is typically furnished by the boiler system supplier.

There are some promising technologies such as oxy-combustion which could achieve relatively low cost CO₂ sequestration. In fact, a boiler firing 20 percent biomass and 80 percent coal with CO₂ sequestration would be greener than wind or solar. Because there are not any emissions to the air and the biomass is renewable, there would be a net decrease in greenhouse gases for every MW produced.

Due to the lack of water in many developing countries, dry cooling will be considered as an alternative to wet or hybrid cooling. However, in warmer climates, dry cooling is not efficient. Wastewater reuse is also a high priority not only in arid areas but in all countries. The reason is the increasing concern about water pollution. With zero liquid discharge and use of municipal wastewater as a water source, a power plant is reducing water pollution with every megawatt produced,

Weekly tracking of activities at each coal-fired power plant around the world except China is found at: 42EI Utility Tracking System.

Sales of electrostatic precipitator (ESP) systems and repair parts for coal-fired power plants will reach $7 billion in 2016. This represents 70 percent of the ESP purchases by stationary sources. Seven companies will account for 44 percent of the purchases by coal-fired power plants and 31 percent of the purchases by all stationary sources.

Coal-fired ESP Purchases As Part Of $10 Billion 2016 Market
# Of Corp	ESP Capacity For Each MW x 1000	Total MW 1000	% of Total Coal-fired Installed Base	ESP Purchases $ Millions	% of Total $ Billion	Examples
7	Over 50	575	44	3,100	31	Big 5 Chinese Corp.
10	10-50	150	12	840	8	AEP, TVA, Duke, Enel, EON
15	5-10	105	8	560	6	NRG, Xcel, Tokyo Electric, Chubu Electric
20	3-5	80	6	320	3	AES, EPDC, RWE, CEZ
52	Sub total	910	70	4,820	49
350	0-3	390	30	2,100	21	U.S., Europe, China
402	Total	1,300	100	6,920	70

The five largest Chinese suppliers are among the top seven ESP system operators in the world. These seven companies will buy 31 percent of the ESP products in 2016. The next 10 companies, most of whom are U.S.-based, will account for 12 percent of the ESP purchases by power plants and 8 percent of all the ESP purchases by stationary sources.

ESP owners are facing substantial investments to upgrade or replace ESPs to meet new emission limits. These limits ratchet down the allowable emissions. Emissions are measured not only over long periods, but typically each hour. This means that electrodes, rappers and other parts which continue to operate but cause emission increases over time now have to be replaced more often.

The concentration of ESP purchases by this small group of companies means that suppliers can sell directly throughout the world. There are efficiency, reliability and other unique features which allow suppliers to obtain higher prices and margins. McIlvaine has developed a program to help suppliers focus on the large purchasers.